Analysis: Obama's budget win has strings attached

By JULIE PACEAssociated Press

October 18, 2013 12:01 AM

President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Lawmakers Wednesday voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)AP

By JULIE PACEAssociated Press

October 18, 2013 12:01 AM

WASHINGTON -- By most measures, President Barack Obama emerged far stronger than his Republican adversaries in Washington's latest fiscal fight. He gave away virtually nothing and his hard-line tactics exposed deep divisions among Republicans and growing public frustration with the GOP.

But Obama's victory came with strings attached. Under his watch, big swaths of the federal government were shuttered for 16 days. The nation was brought to the brink of a default for the second time in two years. And Congress' last-minute deal generated yet another round of looming deadlines on the same issues.

"What comes next is very unpredictable," said Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist. "The notion that this group of people is going to be chastened by this, while it seems obvious, is uncertain."

Indeed, there's little consensus among Republicans about how to proceed in the aftermath of the budget crisis. Some conservatives who demanded changes to Obama's health-care law in exchange for funding the government have signaled they're ready to dig in for another fight.

But other GOP lawmakers are demanding that their party make a course correction.

Republicans will have to quickly settle on a strategy. The deal that ended this month's standoff only keeps the government open through Jan. 15 and extends borrowing authority through Feb. 7. The agreement also requires bipartisan negotiators to issue a report by Dec. 13 on broader budget issues.

What happens during this next round of deadlines will help clarify whether Obama's October win has done anything to alter the political dynamic in Washington.

The White House said the president is entering the next phase of the debate with a similarly unyielding strategy.

Some GOP leaders had assumed Obama would abandon that hard-line stance during the most recent debate.

But Republicans misread how political shifts in Washington over the past two years had affected the president, and in particular how Obama's resolve had been stiffened by the fact he doesn't have to run for office again.

Despite their dour approval ratings, Republicans may again try to test whether Obama is willing to hold his hard line in the new year. But Obama -- long a believer in the power of public opinion -- is banking that the anger Americans aimed at Republicans in recent weeks will persuade them to shift course.